Cross River residents score LGs low in performance survey, seek better local governance

 

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By Opeyemi Babalola | Guardian

Residents of Cross River State have expressed dissatisfaction with the state’s local council administrations, scoring administrators low in social, economic and political functionalities in the last three years.

This was revealed recently in the Local Government Performance Survey conducted by YMonitor, to assess delivery of public goods and effective services by local councils in the state.
 
YMonitor is an accountability project under The Future Project (TFP), a developmental organisation dedicated to building a network of empowered citizens through jobs, entrepreneurship and active citizenship.
 
According to the survey report, many residents of Cross River were unaware of the activities of their local council administrators in the last three years. They considered the councils to be distant from people at the grassroots.

The Net Promoter Score test showed that many of the 1,225 respondents, who are mostly educated young adults between 24 and 48 years, were dissatisfied with the state of affairs in their communities and are unlikely to recommend their council chairmen for higher public offices.

The survey report further revealed that despite being registered voters, many residents at the grassroots do not know the name of any public official elected in their councils in the last three years.
 
Education was also shown to be a key factor in residents’ likelihood to vote in the coming general elections, as residents of Cross River with a secondary and above level of education exhibit a higher likelihood of voting.
 
The report recommended bringing governance closer to the grassroots, sensitisation of citizens on the significance of local councils and approaches to holding local administrators accountable, as well as provision of corruption-checking systems, among others.